Incumbents pay the price in year of global elections

CNN
 — 

A year of global elections, in which nations with half the world’s population are casting votes is proving punishing for incumbents struggling with the painful economic aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the scandals and exhaustion that afflict leaders who spend years in power.

Elections in recent days in France and Britain have shown disgruntled but informed electorates using democracy in novel ways through tactical voting to reshape their countries. In Iran – even amid the highly restrictive circumstances of an election choreographed by the clerical autocracy, voters sprung a surprise and a hardliner lost.

So far, this mass global exercise of political self-determination has done as much to highlight the growing threats to democracy, the rule of law and the rise of populist leaders as to enshrine the principle that people should choose their leaders. In some countries, like El Salvador and Slovakia, leaders and parties with authoritarian instincts have cemented their power through the ballot box. In others, like Russia, they’ve strangled the rights of voters to extend their own rule. And there are rising concerns about how new leaders with strong mandates in nations like Indonesia and Mexico could use their power to centralize authority and erode democratic structures.

For leaders seeking reelection this year, there are sobering omens. Incumbency usually means vulnerability — as a landmark vote in South Africa demonstrated — and there is widespread angst in developed societies over cost-of-living crises. Populism is having another moment to mirror Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016, which was quickly followed by Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States.

But democracy’s enduring capacity to channel public anger against the power of dominant leaders or to force change has also been on display from India to Senegal. And elections in Taiwan and South Korea proved the dynamism of the idea that free elections can promote stable governance.

Voting around the world is leading up to a critical election in the world’s most powerful democracy – the United States – in November. President Joe Biden, weakened by a disastrous debate performance that exacerbated voter concern about his age, is warning that a return to power by Trump — who tried to steal the 2020 election after losing it — poses an existential threat to the principle of government of the people, by the people and for the people across the globe.

Here are some of the most significant election results so far in 2024 that underscore what may turn out to be a pivotal moment for democracy.

The far-right made significant gains in elections to the European Parliament in June, though the…